Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is the new favourite to be the first Premier League manager given the chop this season.
Despite being in such a commanding position in their group after two matches, United were sent packing from the Champions League on Tuesday night following a final round 3-2 defeat at RB Leipzig.
United produced yet another insipid first half display, going 2-0 behind within 13 minutes before once again finding their feet too late on in Germany.
The pressure is now seriously growing on Solskjaer, and he now leads the Premier League sack race with the United manager's odds to go being shortened to 2/1 - according to Betfair.
As well as crashing out of Europe, performances in the Premier League have caused reasons to be alarmed following their very slow start to matches.
The Red Devils currently sit sixth in the Premier League having come from behind in three of their last four matches while scraping past West Brom 1-0 at home.
Performances certainly haven't been good enough at Old Trafford this season, and Solskjaer knows he must oversee a rapid improvement if he wants to stay in the United dugout.
Behind Solskjaer in the sack race is Chris Wilder following Sheffield United's awful start to the season.
Wilder is 11/4 to be the first Premier League boss sacked with the Blades having picked up just one point from their opening 11 matches.
Slaven Bilic is third favourite at 4/1 with West Brom struggling to get going yet following their promotion to the top-flight.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is fourth in the sack race with his odds at 11/2 having overseen the club's worst start to a league campaign since the 1981-82 season, losing six times already and claiming just 13 points from 11 matches.
And Fulham boss Scott Parker is slightly further out with the bookmakers at 15/2.
But it will likely be Solskjaer under the biggest pressure heading into the weekend's Premier League action.
And he faces a daunting task on Saturday evening as United look to bounce back when they host rivals and Premier League title challengers Manchester City.
Solskjaer admitted that defeat on Tuesday was his 'responsibility' and he will be desperate to put that right on the weekend.
'We didn't perform as a team and that's always the manager's responsibility - to get everyone ready,' Solskjaer said.
'We knew they'd come at us. Unfortunately we conceded two goals. We never got going. We didn't turn up until they scored the second goal.
'Maybe the referee should have done something for the second one with the push on Alex (Telles). Maybe we need to be more streetwise.
'We started playing at 2-0. It was one-way traffic in the second half. They gave everything and showed very good character.'
lukzlat910
521
I'm struck by how short people’s memories are, driven by immediate success 🤦♂️ I'm here wondering whether these United fans remember how abject we were when we last faced PSG in the Champions League less than two years ago? A team consisting of average players who couldn’t dream of getting anywhere near this current starting eleven. I imagined that these same fans who are now calling for Ole’s head were also lamenting the average nature of our squad two years ago. United were really quite good against PSG that night. They controlled large parts of the game, they created numerous chances and the game should have been put to bed early in the second half, but that’s football. The stark contrast to the home game two years ago at Old Trafford where PSG bullied and battered us at a trot. The smash and grab in Paris was wonderful but lucky. This season we deserved our win in Paris and, although PSG deserved their win at Old Trafford, United played far, far better football than we did two years ago. United have seen a slew of managers come and go since Fergie’s retirement, failing under the intense scrutiny in Salford. The shortsightedness of immediate success needs to stop. Ole has overhauled our average squad with quality in increasing depth. The consistency still isn’t there but the team is beginning to find rhythm on a more consistent basis. The fight and hunger from the team displayed that night was something that has been devoid in the soul of the club since Fergie left. And the football under Ole at times is actually really bloody good. It’s a young, exciting team with the ceiling not even in touching distance. Ole deserves credit for his incredible work; rebuilding this squad with minimum fuss, restoring an identity and instilling a hunger and fight in the team. Klopp’s and Guardiola’s marauding teams set an abnormal precedence the last few years and its easy to romanticise United under Ferguson but United fans aught to remember how Fergie’s team were often built on a combination of grit and beauty. Ferguson’s United would often find themselves grinding out ugly wins at Ewood Park before blowing away Newcastle at Old Trafford. Since the last January transfer window (only Ole’s second proper window to overhaul the squad) the results have gone like this: Played 43 Won 29 Drawn 7 Lost 7 Those are very good numbers. This season, United had two weeks off and one week preseason. They played one friendly before our opening day defeat to Palace, who had played three games already, and United were still clumsy and tired come the mauling from Spurs. Since then we’ve beaten some very good teams, ground out some wins and lost by fine margins. Ole is doing a terrific job. There is still a long way to go of course; in my opinion the squad still needs a right winger, a long term clinical striker and a centre back. Solskjaer had said it’ll be a bumpy few years with ups and downs and that is exactly what we’re experiencing. It isn’t too dissimilar to Klopp’s first two years at Liverpool, it took them a while for everything to click into place but when it did, it was sickeningly awesome. I believe the potential of this young squad is enormously thrilling. I enjoy watching them. They’re like a gangly foal at times but you know that they have ability to become a champion race horse. The future is bright, it’ll just require some patience and belief. I wish these inflammatory United fans on AF would enjoy the journey and stop demanding the destination. The team needs our support not lamentations. I have also written before claiming that there are some reasons why Ole needs to go too. But he’s also done just enough (if only by a whisker) to be given more time. It’s a tough call and there’s merit to both sides of the argument. A club like Chelsea or City would probably have sacked him by now specially with Pochettino available in the market. But United have also tried a bunch of supposedly world class managers so I can understand the cautious approach to making a decision on managerial change. Back to the match against PSG, it was nowhere near a disaster and United have suffered many a humbling even under Ferguson. The truth is that they played well for large portions of the game and with a little more clinical finishing, the result might have been totally different and that alone shows that Ole did not get the tactics wrong for the game besides not subbing Fred off earlier. Sure, United fared much better with a back 3 against PSG but they also got embarrassed in the league with a back 3 in multiple matches. Who’s to say the result would not have been worse had United played a back 3? Of course results under Ole have been good but not great. The recruitment could have been better but that is not all Ole and in fact, it is far better than under previous managers. Under Ole, United has taken small steps forward. Yes, that is not good enough but until United can sort out its recruitment, I’m not sure that changing the manager would improve results by much. So leave Ole alone, he's brilliant for us....
ishti
188
I hate it man. Plz don't put Ole under more pressure. We have a derby coming this week.